SACRAMENTO  San Diego County is one of 21 counties statewide found to be in full compliance with a new law limiting the use of shackles on pregnant inmates.

“Legislation is only as good as the implementation and enforcement of it,” said Dr. Gail Newel, who helped with the statewide study of how counties are complying with the legislation a year after it went into effect.

“This report shows progress toward implementation but clearly more needs to be done,” Newel added in her statement accompanying the results of a statewide survey.

San Diego Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, a Democrat who authored the law, praised counties like San Diego for adhering to the law.

“However, in almost two-thirds of our state’s counties, pregnant prisoners are still being put at risk,” she said. San Diego County was also praised as one of the few providing notices in Spanish.

At the time of the survey, March 2013, San Diego County jails held 823 women out of a total inmate population of 5,457. However, the report did not specify how many were pregnant.

Studies have shown that shackling prisoners puts the woman and her fetus at risk of serious health harm, says Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, which as pushed for limits for nearly a decade.

The advocacy group supported Atkins’ AB 2530, which banned the use of shackles on pregnant inmates in most cases. It also limited the use of restraints on women after giving birth and requires counties to adopt written policies that must be posted in conspicuous locations accessible to female prisoners.

When carrying the bill, Atkins said: “Studies indicate that the incidence of minor trauma, especially from falls, increases as pregnancy progresses and excessive shackling poses undue health risks to a woman throughout her pregnancy. Pregnant women in correctional facilities are more likely to experience miscarriage, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and low birth-weight infants. The added stress of maneuvering with excessive restraints could lead to further complications while rendering doctors unable to treat them properly.”

The group says it found 21 counties in full compliance and 32 partly compliant. Two counties — Inyo and Yuba — were not following any part of the law, the group said. Three did not respond to the survey.

”Written policies in some of those counties do not grant medical professionals the authority to have restraints removed from pregnant prisoners at any time. Furthermore, county jail officials in 24 counties are not obligated by a written policy to inform pregnant prisoners of their rights,” the report said, critical of some noncompliant jails.

Atkins’ legislation cleared both houses of the Legislature unanimously. It includes exemptions for emergencies, such as safety threats.